Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,311,696"
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 4,245
icasualties.org/oif/
The War in Iraq Costs
$598,617,297,153
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Will Form New Government: Peres
By Matti Friedman
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in a seeming about-face, indicated she might be willing to come on board a Netanyahu government. But Livni, a centrist, would certainly exact a high price: sharing the prime minister’s job she so fervently sought with a reluctant Netanyahu.
informationclearinghouse.info/article22044.htm
Fearing a One-State Solution, Israel’s President Serves Pabulum to Washington
By Franklin Lamb
According to a CIA Study currently being shown to selected staff members on the US Senate Intelligence Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Israel’s survival in its present form beyond the next 20 years is doubtful.
informationclearinghouse.info/article22049.htm
US Empire and the Conflict in Israel/Palestine
By GRITtv
Ali Abunimah, editor and founder of The Electronic Intifada says that Palestine matters precisely because it is the site of the last Western colonial project in the Third World and that opposition to Israel is also opposition to US hegemony in the region.
informationclearinghouse.info/article22048.htm
Zionist Logic
Malcolm X on Zionism
By Malcolm X (Omowale Malcolm X Shabazz)
The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the “last days of this world” their own God would raise them up a “messiah” who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own “divine” government in this newly-gained land, this “divine” government would enable them to “rule all other nations with a rod of iron.”
informationclearinghouse.info/article22046.htm
From One Assault On The Constitution To Another
By Paul Craig Roberts
Will it turn out that we enjoyed more liberty under Bush than we will under Obama? At least the Republicans left us the Second Amendment. The Obama Democrats are not going to return our other purloined civil liberties, and they are already attacking the Second Amendment.
informationclearinghouse.info/article22045.htm
Investigating Bush’s Crimes
By Scott Horton
Obama’s problem is that a growing number of Americans are concerned about what the Bush administration did and are eager to press the issue. The extent of public concern has been reflected in several recent public opinion polls, including one in February by USA Today showing that nearly two-thirds of Americans support investigations of the Bush administration’s use of torture and warrantless wiretapping; roughly 40 percent support criminal investigations.
www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/20
Selling Justice For War Crimes As Vengeance?
The Case for a Truth Commission
By Senator Patrick Leahy
President Obama is right in saying that we cannot afford extreme partisanship and debilitating divisions. As we commemorate the Lincoln bicentennial, there is a need, again, “to bind up the nation’s wounds.” Rather than vengeance, we need an impartial pursuit of what actually happened and a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past.
informationclearinghouse.info/article22053.htm
Who Will Be There For Obusha, When The Floor Drops Out?
By David Michael Green
I didn’t have high expectations that Obama would turn out to be Eugene Debs, come back from socialist heaven (Stockholm?), and so I can’t say that I’m surprised he’s not. But I am pretty shocked and disgusted at some of the decisions we’ve seen so far, including many that Dick Cheney would have little problem praising (in some cases, because Cheney made them originally).
informationclearinghouse.info/article22047.htm
Inside The Meltdown
Don’t Miss This Video By PBS
On Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, the astonished leadership of the U.S. Congress was told in a private session by the chairman of the Federal Reserve that the American economy was in grave danger of a complete meltdown within a matter of days. “There was literally a pause in that room where the oxygen left,” says Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
informationclearinghouse.info/article22043.htm
We Can’t Make It Here Anymore
By James McMurtry – Video and Text
Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let ‘em eat jellybeans let ‘em eat cake
Let ‘em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can’t make it here anymore.
informationclearinghouse.info/article22052.htm
Venezuela Ends Term Limits
By Patrick Irelan
Chávez is already 54 years old. If he rules for another 20 or 30 years, “far into the 21st century,” he’ll be older than John McCain and won’t remember how many houses he owns.
informationclearinghouse.info/article22050.htm
Der Spiegel Exposes the Brazilian Ethanol Madness
Why the Promise of Biofuels is a Lie
By Robert Bryce
For years, the US has been inundated with claims that it should follow Brazil’s lead on biofuels. These arguments have largely been made by a small, but influential group of neoconservatives who claim that the US should quit using oil altogether. They claim that using more ethanol – produced from sugar cane, or corn, or some other substance – will impoverish OPEC and America will once again be returned to prosperity.
informationclearinghouse.info/article22051.htm
At least 31 killed in Pakistan funeral attack:
A suicide attack on the funeral procession of a Shia Muslim cleric in Pakistan on Friday killed at least 31 and left more than 100 injured in the northern city of Dera Ismai, close to Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal area.
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8e1cdc12-ff46-11dd-b3f
8-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
Taliban refuse to disarm after peace deal in Pakistan’s Swat valley:
Taliban forces in Pakistan’s restive valley of Swat, in talks Friday with a cleric who signed a peace deal with the government earlier this week, refused to disarm until Islamic sharia is completely enforced in the region, a Taliban spokesman said.
tinyurl.com/cbswg9
Gates says he would accept truce in Afghanistan:
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that Washington could accept a political agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban if the insurgents will lay down their arms and accept the government’s terms.
tinyurl.com/d6nqau
Bomb kills 3 occupation force troops in Afghanistan:
A roadside bomb killed three coalition troops Friday during a patrol in Afghanistan’s dangerous south, the U.S. coalition said.
tinyurl.com/byq949
US finds new Afghan supply route:
The US will be able to take non-military supplies bound for Afghanistan through Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, a US commander has said
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7901071.stm
20 nations to boost Afghan commitments?:
Three countries committed to “providing a range of air assets, from cargo planes to jet fighters’, and five nations would send more helicopters and 2.5 million euros ($A4.92 million) for a helicopter fund, he said, without naming the nations
nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5335246/
20-nations-boost-afghan-commitments/
Change? What Change?
US expands prison in Afghanistan:
The US military is about to complete a $60m expansion to its prison at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, where it holds more than 600 so-called enemy combatants.
english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/200922041829271189.html
U.S. soldier convicted of murdering 4 Iraqis:
A U.S. Army medic was convicted of murder Friday for his involvement in the execution-style killings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees shot in the back of the head in the spring of 2007.
www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/20/america/20murder-434713.php
Iraq’s 1.6 million displaced need urgent help: agency:
Their number remains “worryingly high” and the majority are suffering from food shortages, substandard and expensive accommodation, while work is scarce.
tinyurl.com/bch2yh
Sadr sees end of US presence soon:
A prominent anti-American Shia cleric said yesterday he hopes recent provincial elections will help unite Iraqis to push out the United States, as other religious leaders urged newly elected officials to put the needs of the country over their personal interests.
tinyurl.com/azpdus
Hamas: Israel picked ‘most dangerous’ politician to lead it :
A Hamas spokesman on Friday said Israel had picked the “most extremist and most dangerous” to lead the country, only hours after Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a mandate to form its next government.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065813.html
ANALYSIS / Netanyahu’s victory is starting to turn sour:
Tzipi Livni will not join a government resting on a narrow 65-person majority, composed of the right and the ultra-Orthodox. She might consider joining a government with Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu and United Torah Judaism, but nothing more than that.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065677.html
Is Obama Ready for a Hard-Right Israel?:
Israeli politics has taken a dramatic shift to the right since the war in Gaza, and as a whole, right-wing parties fared better in the election than did the centrist Kadima party – which finished first by a slim margin – and the crippled leftist Labor party.
www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1880978,00.html
Hamas ‘sends Barack Obama letter’:
The Palestinian group Hamas has sent a letter addressed to the US president via a US politician visiting Gaza, a senior UN official has said
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7898801.stm
Egypt has bad memories of Netanyahu:
Egypt’s leaders will have a heavy heart when they resume dealings with Benjamin Netanyahu, whose earlier spell as Israeli prime minister was the most frustrating since the two countries signed peace in 1979, analysts said.
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090220/wl_
mideast_afp/mideastisraelpoliticsegypt
Manufacturing consent for an attack on Iran :
U.S. analysts: Iran may have enough uranium for one nuke:
U.S. analysts have said an increase in Iran’s reported stockpile of low-enriched uranium means the Islamic Republic could have enough of the material to make a nuclear bomb. An International Atomic Energy Agency report on Thursday showed an increase in the stockpile since November to 1,010 kg.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065810.html
Disinformation and propaganda: Manufacturing consent for an attack on Iran:
Iran in ‘backroom offers’ to West: Iran offered to stop attacking British troops in Iraq to try to get the West to drop objections to Tehran’s uranium enrichment project, a UK official says.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7901101.stm
Iran general scores Moscow trip ‘success’:
Iran’s defense minister says he achieved the objectives of his official visit to Russia amid reports that Tehran sought the S-300 system.
www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=86260§ionid=351020101
‘US no longer a military threat to Iran’:
“I believe that the threat of waging war as a means to curb Iran’s nuclear activities is no longer an option,” the IAEA director general said on Friday.
www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=86272§ionid=351020104
AU troops attacked in Mogadishu:
Abdullahi Sugow, a local resident who witnessed the gun battle, said: “One civilian was killed and two others were injured in our neighbourhood during the clashes.”
english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/02/200922013405505716.html
Paris aid package calms Guadeloupe:
Hundreds of police reinforcements were deployed from mainland France after a labour activist was shot dead late on Tuesday near a barricade in Pointe-a-Pitre.
english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/
2009/02/2009220172039600676.html
UK resident to leave Guantanamo Bay:
The United States has agreed to release Binyam Mohamed, a British resident held at the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay for the past five years without charge, Britain’s foreign ministry has said.
english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/
2009/02/2009220183651182456.html
Report: Over 100,000 deportees had children in US:
An investigation by the Homeland Security Department inspector general found immigration officials deported 108,434 parents with children who are U.S. citizens during 1998 to 2007. A report on the investigation was made public Friday.
tinyurl.com/askm5n
GM shares hit 74-year low:
General Motors Corp. shares on Friday tumbled to their lowest level in more than 70 years, pulled down by a drop in the broader markets and continued speculation about the future of the struggling automaker.
finance.yahoo.com/news/GM-shares-hit-70year-apf-14426329.html
Saab Seeks Protection From Creditors as GM Pulls Out:
Saab Automobile sought protection from creditors after parent General Motors Corp. said it will cut ties with the Swedish carmaker following two decades of losses.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206
01087&sid=auG9TZP6Q3q0&refer=home
US bank stocks fall to 17-year low:
US banking shares hit their lowest level since 1992 on Thursday as fears mounted that the government would be forced to nationalise a key institution.
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8a163738-fe85-11dd-b19a-
000077b07658,s01=1.html?nclick_check=1
Fed offers bleak economic outlook:
The Federal Reserve cut its economic outlook for 2009 on Wednesday and warned that the United States economy would face an “unusually gradual and prolonged” period of recovery as the country struggles to climb out of a deep global downturn
www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/19/business/19fed.php
California Prepares To Eliminate 10,000 Jobs:
Tax revenues have plunged by billions of dollars as the recession clobbers California, leaving the state without sufficient cash to pay its bills. The remedy offered by the governor and lawmakers is to reopen the budget in the middle of the fiscal year, enact deep cuts and tax increases, and work out a fix that will cover the state’s spending through June 2010.
www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/17/
california-prepares-to-el_n_167504.html
Court’s ‘rocket docket’ blasts through foreclosures:
As the Obama administration unveiled its plan to rescue the U.S. housing market, officials in Lee County have come up with their own plan for dealing with the crisis. To clear a huge backlog of foreclosures, judges are hearing “rocket dockets” of nearly 1,000 cases per day and calling retired colleagues back to the bench to help ease the workload.
tinyurl.com/czowvn
Plan: $10 tax to file on paper:
Fee proposed for state income taxes returns not filed electronically draws protests
www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp
?storyID=771636&category=STATE
J.C. Penney reports 51 percent slide in 4Q profit:
J.C. Penney Co. reported a 51 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit Friday as customers sharply cut spending on clothing and other items. The results beat Wall Street expectations, but the chain projected a wider first-quarter loss than analysts had predicte
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090220/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_penney